Communications

For the fifth consecutive year, the bank will donate €300,000 to social organisations operating in the social and environmental spheres at its Annual General Meeting. The winning entities for 2025 are the Asociación Madrileña Para Ayuda del Recluso Abandonado, the Asindown Foundation, the Francisco Luzón Foundation, and the Scout Griebal Foundation.

BBVA has appointed Carlos Sanz-Pastor as Global Head of Internal Audit, replacing Joaquín Gortari Díez, who is leaving the bank following a successful career of 35 years. Meanwhile, Carlos Sanz-Pastor has been part of Internal Audit for more than two decades and, since 2015, was responsible for this unit’s strategy.

BBVA shareholders showed overwhelming support for all of the items proposed on the agenda at the 2025 Annual General Meeting, held this Friday. Quorum for the meeting reached 72.9 percent– an all-time high. The bank’s corporate management in 2024 received the support of 98.9 percent of the shareholders. Furthermore, the re-election as board members of BBVA Chair, Carlos Torres Vila, and CEO, Onur Genç, was backed by 97.4 percent and 99.1 percent of the votes, respectively.

On Friday, March 21st at 12:00 PM (CET), BBVA will hold its 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Euskalduna Conference Center in Bilbao (Spain). BBVA is making it easier for its shareholders to participate in the AGM by offering a hybrid model, combining in-person attendance with the option of remote participation. To participate remotely, shareholders need to register in advance on the Remote Attendance Portal. Furthermore, the bank’s corporate website will broadcast the event via webcast.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley European Financials Conference held in London on Tuesday, BBVA’s CEO explained that BBVA’s long-term profitability outlook is predicated on diversification, leading franchises and the successful pursuit of the bank’s strategy built around digitization and sustainability. Onur Genç also pointed to the geopolitical landscape: “Europe is at a turning point and will need further investment to become self-sufficient on various fronts. To finance this investment, he doubled down on the “need for larger, more profitable and efficient banks.” In this context, BBVA’s CEO underscored the importance of the combination with Banco Sabadell: “We expect to receive the CNMC’s decision within a matter of weeks. Once issued, the government will be able to review the combination, ultimately allowing the shareholders to make a decision.” For Onur Genç, “there is no doubt that Banco Sabadell shareholders will find a better ‘home’ at BBVA.”

The Central Bank of Morocco has given the green light for the indirect change in control of Banco Sabadell's branch in the country, as part of the transaction with BBVA. Therefore, BBVA now has all the authorizations needed from international regulators to complete the transaction.

BBVA’s Chair, Carlos Torres Vila, took part this Friday in the annual forum of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB), where he underscored the need to make further progress toward European financial integration to create institutions with greater scale: “The return of mergers and acquisitions within Europe is a positive development,” he proclaimed. In his view, “it is important for investors and shareholders to have the final say on the consolidation processes currently taking place within Europe, as indeed should happen in a properly functioning capital market.” He also called for a regulatory environment that fosters competitiveness, in addition to financial stability: “Regulation must be an enabler of growth,” he explained at a round table discussion alongside the CEO of Banco Santander, Héctor Grisi, moderated by the president of the AEB, Alejandra Kindelán.

BBVA has received the green light from the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) to provide custody and execution services for cryptoassets trading orders in Spain. After completing this formality, the bank is preparing to launch its offering for its retail customers, which will initially be available with bitcoin and ether.

BBVA and research provider BloombergNEF (BNEF) will work together to enhance and strengthen BBVA’s energy transition knowledge and expertise in clean technologies. The announcement was made during an event held in Madrid where the agreement and its objectives were presented.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Music and Opera category has gone in this 17th edition to Toshio Hosakawa for “the extraordinary international reach of his work,” which “has built a bridge between the Japanese musical tradition and contemporary Western aesthetics”

The winners of the 18th Türkiye’s Women Entrepreneurs Competition, organized by Garanti BBVA alongside Ekonomist magazine and the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Türkiye (KAGİDER), have just been announced at an award ceremony held on February 27.

Photo cover: Garanti BBVA CEO Mahmut Akten and Özlem Kahramaner, Türkiye's female entrepreneur of the year.

The BBVA Foundation has awarded the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Economics, Finance and Business Management category to Olivier Blanchard (Paris School of Economics and MIT), Jordi Galí (Centre for Research in International Economics and Pompeu Fabra University) and Michael Woodford (Columbia University) in recognition of their profound influence on modern macroeconomics and the design of monetary and fiscal policy rules.

BBVA is set to channel €700 billion in sustainable business between 2025 to 2029, more than double the previous target of €300 billion set for the 2018–2025 period, which it reached in December 2024, one year ahead of schedule. This new, more ambitious objective will also run for a shorter period (five years as opposed to eight).

BBVA has received the approval of the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) to acquire indirect control of Banco Sabadell’s Mexican banking franchise. BBVA has now received all the necessary authorizations from Mexican regulators.

BBVA issued a €1 billion, 12-year Tier 2 subordinated bond this Monday, drawing demand of €4.7 billion, almost five times the offering. The pricing was set at mid-swap +165 basis points, significantly below the initial guidance of mid-swap +200 basis points.

The bank has reached 35.4 percent women in managerial positions, exceeding the target of 35 percent by 2024. Initiatives such as the global program ‘Yo soy talento feminino’ (I am female talent), is helping to boost the development of women with greater potential.

BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) reinforces its commitment to innovation with the integration of BBVA Spark and the group’s Digital Assets & Blockchain strategy. This restructuring strengthens its leadership in advanced financial solutions and the digital transformation of the industry.

The BBVA Foundation is once again sponsoring the Salt Artistic Research and Production Grant Program, now in its 2025 edition. This initiative aims to create a dynamic platform for artistic research and production, supporting artists from Türkiye who explore contemporary social issues through interdisciplinary approaches.

Exoticca, a leading company in the digitization of high-value travel, has secured a new €25 million financing agreement with BBVA Spark. This debt agreement, which builds on the €4 million agreement signed with BBVA Spark last year, will support the company's international expansion and drive its investment in technology.

Garanti BBVA recently held a ‘Demo Day’ event in celebration of the five startups that completed the 2nd year of its Garanti BBVA Partners Tech Program.The program aims to support newly founded tech startups with the potential to attract investment and grow.

The more a company grows and increases its profitability, the greater its positive impact on the economy and people. During the presentation of the 2024 results, BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila explained how the bank will allocate its revenue and profit, with a greater social impact.

BBVA has appointed Antonio Bravo as the Global Head of Data. He will replace Ricardo Martín Manjón, who’s leaving the bank to embark on new professional projects.

BBVA CEO Onur Genç proclaimed at The World Economic Forum that in the Iberian Peninsula “we have in front of us a great opportunity to promote cleantech investment on a major scale.” In his view, it is essential to harness the development of industrial clusters in Spain and Portugal to lead the energy transition in Europe. In this context, the Iberian Peninsula has tremendous potential to generate economic growth on the back of clean technologies.

Three micro-entrepreneurs running small cocoa farming businesses were the stars of ‘Seeds for a sustainable future’, an event organized by the BBVA Microfinance Foundation under the presidency of Queen Letizia of Spain. The Queen, who underlined the Foundation’s invaluable work in supporting the progress of millions of people, was accompanied by BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila and by renowned pastry chef Jordi Roca.

Quantum computing, new energy sources, and AI agents: 2025 is set to be defined by a renewed drive for potentially disruptive technologies, with global technology investment projected to grow by 9 percent, according to Gartner.

The finance department plays a pivotal role in the transformation of an organization. Although the CFO (chief financial officer) has traditionally been viewed as the guardian of a company’s finances, they happen to play a much bigger role. They help to shape the strategic roadmap needed to embark on this transformation and allocate the resources to make it all happen. This is what Luisa Gómez Bravo, Global Head of Finance at BBVA, had to say in a recent interview published by Forbes magazine, together with Carmen de Pablo, Chief Financial, Strategy and Sustainability Officer at Moeve, and Laura Abasolo, Chief Financial and Control Officer at Telefónica.

Researchers at BBVA and IBM Research have designed a dataset that functions as a stress test to measure the presence of discriminatory bias in the responses given by generative artificial intelligence models in languages other than English. The BBVA team’s stress test measures biases that could exist in GenAI in Spanish. The work was shown at NeurIPS, the world’s biggest AI conference, and was made available to the open source community to continue the research.

BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila claimed “Education is a revolutionary force; it is the engine of opportunity and a foundation for equality” at a 'Aprendemos juntos 2030' (Learning Together 2030) event for a live audience, held today in Madrid. Carlos Torres Vila announced an international tour for this BBVA educational program, set to visit Barcelona, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Lima, and Montevideo in 2025.

Reorienting the workforce, attracting talent and improving energy infrastructure are some of the key areas the consulting firm McKinsey & Company has identified for the European Union can unleash its potential in artificial intelligence. This would allow labor productivity in Europe to increase by up to three percent annually by 2030, while reducing the gap with more competitive countries in AI, such as the United States.

Garanti BBVA recently revamped ‘Garanti BBVA Mobile’, making it faster and easier for investors to monitor and manage their investment portfolios directly on the app. The new menu for investments allows customers to view their portfolio distribution, check the status and research investment options that match their investment goals - all on a single screen. Furthermore, Garanti BBVA Mobile also offers educational content designed to improve customers’ investment knowledge in its Investment Academy.

Juan Blasco, Global Head of Institutional Business at BBVA CIB, has been appointed Chair of the Board of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME). Blasco takes on this role with the goal of contributing to the strengthening of European capital markets, fostering their integration and enhancing their ability to meet the needs of businesses and investors.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the way we interact with the world. At BBVA, the Behavioral Economics team works to leverage its potential in a safe and responsible way by improving customer experience and process efficiency. How? By shaping AI development and adoption.

Casafari, one of Europe’s most prominent real estate software platforms, has signed a €5 million venture debt deal with BBVA Spark. It is BBVA’s first financing arrangement with tech firms in Portugal. The agreement benefits from the support of the European Union and the European Investment Fund under the InvestEU Fund program.

The scenario for 2025 markets is positive, but not without uncertainty. According to forecasts by BBVA Asset Management & Global Wealth (BBVA AM&GW), the largest economies will see another year of growth, although conditioned by the policies adopted by the Trump administration. “As we look ahead to 2025, it is currently presenting significant uncertainty, but the ultimate outcome doesn’t necessarily have to be bad in terms of investments,” explained Joaquín García Huerga, Director of Global Strategy at BBVA AM & GW, at the presentation of the Market Outlook for 2025. “The markets continue to have revaluation potential and fixed income offers positive expected returns. Therefore, mixed portfolios, including conservative portfolios, could obtain positive returns in 2025 once again, both in nominal and real terms.”

Garanti BBVA has launched a new payment and electronic money service, TAMİ, to bring fresh innovation to the rapidly evolving world of e-commerce and digital payments.

BBVA has been awarded the Inhouse Team of the Year in the Banks & Financial Institutions category at the 2024 Iberian Lawyer Gold Awards, in recognition of the work of its legal team and their ability to address challenges within the financial sector.

BBVA has submitted to the Spanish National Markets and Competition authority (CNMC) a series of unprecedented measures to guarantee financial inclusion, lending to SMEs and competitiveness, especially in Catalonia and the Valencian Community, in order to facilitate a prompt authorization for the combination with Banco Sabadell. The specific measures being presented include: BBVA will not close offices where there is no other branch nearby and will maintain the commercial terms for individuals and SMEs in those postal codes in which there are fewer than four financial institutions¹. In addition, the bank is committed to maintaining, for 18 months, the working capital lines for all SMEs, and the current total credit volume for those that work exclusively with the two banks². These remedies largely mitigate the risks identified by the CNMC, which are mostly focused on certain territories. The bank will continue to collaborate closely with the authority to finalize the remedies agreement and the authorization of the transaction as soon as possible.

¹For the purpose of competition, BBVA and Banco Sabadell are considered as a single entity.

²Except in case of financial deterioration.

From November 11 to 22, Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and host of COP29, will be in the spotlight. This Climate Summit, dubbed the "Finance COP," will focus on climate finance—specifically, how to assist developing countries in meeting their goals and protecting the global economy.

BBVA is to donate €4 million to the Spanish Red Cross to help those affected by the DANA in Spain. This donation will be aimed, initially, at covering the most immediate needs and subsequently at contributing to the recovery of the thousands of people who have been affected. This initiative is in addition to a series of emergency measures implemented by BBVA last week, including a donation campaign among customers and employees via Bizum, which has raised over €3 million to date.

After training more than 50,000 employees in data, BBVA is now busy developing a new program, this time alongside the University of Navarra and focused on the use of tools such as ChatGPT. The aim is to boost productivity by optimizing efficiency in decision-making and daily operations. The program is part of a partnership agreement to train bank employees in data science and new emerging technologies.

Financial Times and Statista have identified those paving the way for diversity in Europe in their report, ‘Europe’s Diversity Leaders 2025’. The publication ranks BBVA as one of the most diverse companies in Europe; it is the top Spanish bank on the list and 13th in the entire banking sector.

BBVA Asset Management (AM) has launched a pilot project capable of applying blockchain technology to asset management, in line with its strategy of harnessing innovation for the benefit of its clients. To succeed, it has registered a short-term fixed-income ‘tokenized’ investment fund through the regulatory sandbox of the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

Garanti BBVA Kripto aims to provide the highest standards in terms of performance, security, and customer trust  for digital assets. It does so by establishing strategic partnerships with Ripple for the services provided by  its subsidiary; and with IBM for secure custody solutions for its crypto asset trading platform, which serves more than 14,000 users.

BBVA reinforces its strategy in Latin America with an ambitious expansion plan in Brazil, the largest wholesale market in the region. With a growing team and a strong focus on sustainability, the entity plans to deploy local capabilities by 2025 to serve more than 250 key companies in Brazil.

BBVA is the world’s thirteenth most advanced bank on account of its ongoing efforts to integrate data and AI technologies, according to the Evident AI Index. More precisely, the bank ranks first in Spain and fourth in Europe, where it is widely recognized as offering outstanding professional development opportunities for its AI specialists and for having defined a Group-wide strategy that permeates the upper echelons of the organization.

BBVA and the owners of El Celler de Can Roca have renewed their partnership for three more years. On the 10th anniversary of the sponsorship, they are celebrating this alliance that has emerged from their shared values, and plan to continue developing new projects.

BBVA was recognized by Global Finance as the bank with the best open banking services for companies globally. This award joins 12 other accolades that the prestigious magazine has presented to the bank this year. On a global level, the awards for the best bank for corporate clients, and the award recognizing BBVA’s AI Factory as one of the best financial innovation laboratories stand out. By country, Spain was recognized as having the best sustainable finance and is considered the most innovative bank for companies, and Peru received the award for the best bank for SMEs.

BBVA is one of the first banks in Visa's global network to use VTAP, a new Visa platform that enables financial institutions to create and manage digital tokens backed by fiat currencies such as the euro and the dollar. BBVA will use VTAP to create tokens on the public Ethereum blockchain with expected live pilots in 2025.